ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
YEAR-OVER-YEAR CRASH REPORT · IOWA, IA · 2018
Purpose: Machine-readable JSON endpoint for AI agents, LLMs, researchers, and programmatic consumers. Returns all underlying crash data and AI-generated commentary without HTML.
Authentication: None required. Public endpoint.
GET: https://thatcarhitme.com/api/crash-data/reports/data/iowa/statewide/2018-annual-report
Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis
149 CRASHES IN
IOWA, IA
2018
In Fremont County, total traffic crashes increased by 26.3% from 118 in 2017 to 149 in 2018. While overall collisions rose, one of the most notable year-over-year shifts was a significant decrease in crashes involving a driver under the influence (DUI), which fell from 11 incidents in the prior year to just 3 in the current period.
149
▲ 26.3%was 118
Total Crash Events
3
Persons Killed
74
▲ 19.4%was 62
Persons Injured
3
Fatal Crash Events
Note: "Persons Killed" (3) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (3) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities.
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records
Trend Summary
Crash data for Fremont County indicates a rising trend in traffic incidents year-over-year. The total number of crashes grew from 118 in 2017 to 149 in 2018, an increase of 26.3%. Correspondingly, the number of people injured in these incidents rose by 19.4%, from 62 to 74, while fatalities remained unchanged at 3 for both years.
Vulnerable Road User Casualties
0
Pedestrians Killed
3
Motorists Killed
0
Other Killed
2
Pedestrians Injured
71
Motorists Injured
1
Other Injured
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)
When Crashes Happen
The temporal patterns of crashes showed some consistency and some shifts between the two years. Friday remained the most common day for crashes in both 2017 (25 crashes) and 2018 (27 crashes). However, the peak time for incidents changed; in 2017, the single peak hour was 4 p.m. with 11 crashes, whereas in 2018, the peak was distributed across three hours—2 p.m., 4 p.m., and 7 p.m.—each recording 12 crashes.
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)
Crash Severity Breakdown
While the total number of fatal crashes remained stable at 3 year-over-year, the fatal crash rate decreased from 2.54% in 2017 to 2.01% in 2018 due to the higher total crash volume. The proportion of serious injury crashes also declined, from 11% of all crashes (13 incidents) in 2017 to 7.4% (11 incidents) in 2018. In contrast, crashes resulting in minor injuries saw a notable increase, doubling from 11 to 22 incidents and rising from 9.3% to 14.8% of all crashes.
Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale
Severity Distribution (Crash Events)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record
Top Contributing Factors
The leading contributing factors for crashes shifted between 2017 and 2018. In 2018, the most cited factor was 'Animal,' with its crash count increasing from 13 to 19 year-over-year. 'Driving too fast for conditions' saw a substantial increase in incident count, from 3 crashes in 2017 to 13 in 2018. Conversely, 'Followed too close,' a top factor in 2017 with a count of 16 crashes, saw its count decrease to 11 crashes in 2018.
Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash
Road & Environmental Conditions
There was a discernible shift toward a higher number of crashes occurring in adverse conditions in 2018 compared to 2017. The count of crashes on snowy road surfaces increased from 2 to 14, and collisions in rainy weather grew from 5 to 14. Similarly, crashes in darkness on unlit roadways rose from 18 incidents in 2017 to 33 in 2018. Consequently, the share of crashes happening in clear weather and on dry roads decreased, even as their absolute counts increased slightly.
Weather
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash
Lighting
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · Lighting condition field
Road Surface
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · Road surface condition field
Vehicles & Demographics
The top vehicle makes involved in crashes remained consistent, with Chevrolet and Ford leading in both years; Chevrolet-brand vehicles were involved in 44 crashes in 2018 (up from 37), and Fords were involved in 38 (up from 27). An analysis of persons involved shows a notable increase in the 26-34 and 35-44 age groups, which saw their numbers rise from 28 and 35 respectively in 2017 to 42 and 50 in 2018. The number of persons aged 65 and older involved in crashes saw a slight decrease from 34 to 31.
Top Vehicle Makes (217 vehicles)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · Vehicle unit records
15 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.
Sex Distribution (160 persons with recorded sex)
Source: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS Open Data · 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events
Data Sources & Methodology
Primary Data Source
All crash data in this report is sourced from Iowa Crash Data, accessed programmatically via the ArcGIS Open Data API (SODA). This dataset contains official police-reported motor vehicle traffic crash records maintained by the reporting jurisdiction's law enforcement agency. Records are published to the open data portal by the municipality and are subject to the portal's terms of use.
Data Retrieval
- Access method: ArcGIS Open Data API (SoQL queries)
- Data format: Structured JSON via REST API
- Record types queried: Crash events, person records, and vehicle unit records
- Date filter applied: 2018-01-01 through 2018-12-31
- Report generated: September 9, 2026
Data Coverage
- Reporting period: 2018-01-01 through 2018-12-31 (365 days)
- Geographic scope: iowa, IA
- Total crash records analyzed: 149
- Total persons involved: 277
- Total vehicles involved: 217
Analytical Methodology
- Severity classification: Uses the KABCO injury scale (K=Fatal, A=Incapacitating injury, B=Non-incapacitating injury, C=Possible injury, O=No injury/property damage only), the standard classification in U.S. Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria (MMUCC). Severity is assigned per crash event based on the most severe injury in that crash. A single fatal crash (K) may involve multiple fatalities; therefore the "Persons Killed" count in the headline KPIs may differ from the "Fatal" crash count in the severity breakdown.
- Contributing factors: Reflect the officer-determined primary contributory cause recorded at the time of the crash report. These are preliminary determinations and may not reflect final investigation findings.
- Hit-and-run classification: Based on the hit-and-run indicator field in the official crash report, as determined by the responding officer at the scene.
- Temporal analysis: Day-of-week and hour-of-day distributions are computed from the crash date/time timestamp in each record.
- Demographics: Age and sex distributions are drawn from person-level records linked to each crash event. A single crash may involve multiple persons.
- Vehicle data: Make information is drawn from vehicle unit records linked to each crash event.
- AI commentary: Narrative sections are generated by Google Gemini (large language model) based on the structured data. Commentary is descriptive, not predictive, and should not be interpreted as expert opinion.
Limitations & Disclaimers
- Only crashes reported to and documented by law enforcement are included. Minor incidents, unreported crashes, and near-misses are not captured in this dataset.
- Data reflects conditions at the time of the initial police report and may be subject to subsequent corrections, reclassifications, or supplements by the reporting agency.
- Open data portal records may experience a publication lag - recently occurring crashes may not yet appear in the dataset at the time of report generation.
- AI-generated commentary is produced by a large language model and is intended to highlight patterns in the data. It does not constitute legal, medical, or professional analysis.
- Percentages are calculated from reported data and are subject to rounding.
Non-Affiliation Disclosure
This report is produced independently by ThatCarHitMe.com (Injuria.ai). It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in partnership with any law enforcement agency, municipal government, state department of transportation, or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Data is sourced from publicly available government open data portals.
Data License
The underlying crash data is provided under the municipality's Open Data Terms of Use and is made available to the public for unrestricted use. This analysis and report is © 2026 Injuria.ai and may be cited with attribution using the suggested citation below.
Corrections & Feedback
If you believe any data in this report is inaccurate or have questions about our methodology, please contact: data@injuria.ai. We are committed to accuracy and will issue corrections promptly.
Suggested Citation
ThatCarHitMe.com (Injuria.ai). "iowa, IA Crash Intelligence Report: 2018." Published September 9, 2026. Reporting period: 2018-01-01 to 2018-12-31. Data source: Iowa Crash Data, ArcGIS Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/iowa/statewide/2018-annual-report
About the Publisher
ThatCarHitMe.com is a crash data intelligence platform developed by Injuria.ai, a legal technology company specializing in traffic safety analytics. We aggregate and analyze publicly available government crash data to produce structured intelligence reports for communities, researchers, journalists, and legal professionals. Our reports combine programmatic data retrieval from official open data portals with AI-assisted narrative analysis.
Questions about this report's data or methodology: data@injuria.ai
ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company
ThatCarHitMe.com
An Injuria.ai Company
Crash Data Intelligence
Data: Iowa Crash Data · ArcGIS
Period: 2018-01-01 – 2018-12-31
Generated: September 9, 2026 · All rights reserved